Bull Run After Action (Official) Reports

30102008

As I said, I have posted all the First Bull Run after action reports (Official Reports) included in the War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (ORs for short). That does not mean, however, that after action reports for all regiments, brigades, divisions and staff can now be found on this site. There are a number of reports missing from the ORs, either because none were ever written or because they were lost or otherwise not available at the time the ORs were compiled. Some were subsequently included in Broadfoot Publishing’s Supplement to the Official Records. I don’t happen to own that particular expensive set of books, and it is not available in digital format. I’d be happy to buy the volume which includes Bull Run reports (Vol. 2 of Vol. 1), if anybody is looking to sell. I previously posted this report from the Supplement.

I suppose there are lots of reasons that so many reports are missing. Many of the federal regiments were no longer in existence within weeks of the battle. And it appears that some brigades either did not require regimental reports, or simply did not forward them along with the brigade report. None of Ewell’s, Early’s, or Holmes’s regiments in Beuaregard’s army are in the ORs, and the only reports of any type for Johnston’s army are his own and those of Jackson, Stuart, and staffers Pendleton and Rhett. On the Union side, there are no regimental reports for the brigades of Richardson or Blenker, and only one or two for most other brigades.

Maybe some of these will turn up in the Supplement. Other places for me to look are the state Adjutant General reports for 1861, though I believe those were culled when the Supplement was compiled. I think the most important source is going to be newspapers. If you should run across anything that looks like an official regimental report published in a newspaper, please let me know about it. As I post these I will cross reference them to the OOBs, just as I have done with the ORs.

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3 responses

Harry,
I ran across an article written about the 14th Brooklyn’s missing report and their actions at Bull Run. The report had been misplaced, and found forty years later. According to the article, the report and other papers found with it were forwarded to the War Veterans Association. The report was finally published 40 years later in the Brookyn Daily Leader on Mar. 17, 1901. The Brooklyn Public Library has some of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspapers online. Their website is: http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/
There are other articles about the 14th Brooklyn regiment if one has the patience to search for them. It’s best to search by subject rather than dates. However, the article about the report can be located by date. If not successful try “Old Bull Run Report”. The report is written by Lt. Col. E. B. Fowler. Just thought I’d pass this along, and thank you for the OR’s their organization and presentation are wonderful. I had been looking them up at e-history.com from OSU very tedious. Have you looked there for the Supplemental Volume with the later reports? The site has the atlases and several Supplemental Volumes.
Linda

Dulce bellum inexpertis

“I am sending you these little incidents as I hear them well authenticated. They form, to the friends of the parties, part of the history of the glorious 21st. More anon.”

About

Hello! I’m Harry Smeltzer and welcome to Bull Runnings, where you'll find my digital history project on the First Battle of Bull Run which is organized under the Bull Run Resources section. I'll also post my thoughts on the processes behind the project and commentary on the campaign, but pretty much all things Civil War are fair game. You'll only find musings on my “real job” or my personal life when they relate to this project. My mother always told me "never discuss politics or religion in mixed company”, and that's sound advice where current events are concerned.

The Project

This site is more than a blog. Bull Runnings also hosts digitized material pertaining to First Bull Run. In the Bull Run Resources link in the masthead and also listed below are links to Orders of Battle, After Action Reports, Official Correspondence, Biographical Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Memoirs, Newspaper Accounts and much, much more. Take some time to surf through the material. This is a work in process with no end in sight, so check back often!